{"id":4470,"date":"2019-07-05T14:31:43","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T18:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/identity-management\/?p=4470"},"modified":"2021-04-06T13:28:16","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T17:28:16","slug":"what-is-identity-federation-why-does-it-matter-for-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solutionsreview.com\/identity-management\/what-is-identity-federation-why-does-it-matter-for-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Identity Federation? Why Does it Matter for Businesses?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"What<\/p>\n

So what exactly is identity federation? Why does your enterprise need it? What can it offer you in terms of security and user experience?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These questions can seem daunting, especially because discussions of identity federation often becomes clouded with technical jargon. How can a layperson sift through all the technical language and determine what identity federation can offer their business<\/a>?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t

\"IAM<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n

We dive into identity federation to show just what it can do for you!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Identity Federation?\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s begin with the technical. Identity federation enforces common identity security standards and protocols. It coordinates and manages user identities between different identity providers, applications, and portals across your infrastructure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually, federation can establish trust via digital signatures and encryption. It does so through multiple protocols such as SAML 1 or 2, WS-Federation, or OAuth2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this explanation doesn\u2019t offer much in the way of insights. Let\u2019s break it down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Federation connects different identity management<\/a> systems together (hence the name federation). In a federated system, a central home node or identity provider stores the users\u2019 identities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, when a user needs to authenticate themselves, the database or application processes the access request through the identity provider; since they already trust the identity provider, they know whether the access request meets their authentication requirements.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus in a federated identity security system, the user never directly provides credentials to anyone other than the identity provider. You can thus think of the identity provider as the center of a web of SaaS applications\u2014everything connects to it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How Does That Differ From Single Sign-On?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Often, much of the confusion surrounding identity federation stems from this question.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Single sign-on differs from identity federation in the same way that squares differ from rectangles. Federation automatically provides your enterprise with single sign-on. However, having single sign-on does not automatically give your enterprise federation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To clarify, single sign-on belongs on the list of top next-generation identity management capabilities. It can mean either:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n